


Uncharacteristic Gifts

by samariumwriting



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gift Giving, M/M, Male My Unit | Reflet | Robin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 12:38:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19830403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samariumwriting/pseuds/samariumwriting
Summary: Someone keeps anonymously leaving Robin flowers. His initial assumption was that they were from a secret admirer, because Chrom just didn't give gifts like that. But if he was, then why?





	Uncharacteristic Gifts

**Author's Note:**

> For the second Chrobin Week prompt, flowers!

Chrom wasn’t exactly the most delicate person around. He liked practical gifts, that had some kind of use, and Robin couldn’t blame him. He’d seen the kinds of gifts his family got from other nobles; he probably had all manner of fancy, delicate things lying around that he’d either broken or felt unable to touch in case he broke them.

Robin would admit that he was pretty much the same, though. He didn’t like pretty things just because they were pretty, and he’d much rather receive a well-bound book as a gift than any number of intricately painted vases or carved figures. It was simply the case that if someone bought him a gift like that, they didn’t know him particularly well.

And that was how Robin cottoned on that Chrom was nervous about something. Because Chrom would never, ever, continually give him gifts of flowers if he was following his instinct of what Robin would want, and unless he was nervous, he wouldn’t go against his own judgement to follow someone else’s advice.

It was so uncharacteristic that, when the first gently tied bundle of flowers arrived outside his room, he thought they were from a soon to be very disappointed secret admirer. It was an elaborate bouquet, one that he would never ever have any use for, but he put them in a vase on his dresser and looked at them occasionally when he wasn’t hunched over his desk. They were nice, but completely impractical, and they were dead within a week and a half and he had to throw them out.

When he mentioned them to Chrom, Chrom only laughed nervously at the assumption that they were from someone who was about to be very disappointed. It was a comment that made Robin feel like a complete fool once he actually worked out who had given the flowers, but that was yet to come.

Once the first batch died, another group of flowers appeared. These were a little simpler, tied with a piece of string rather than a ribbon, and they looked like they came from the palace gardens. At the time, it seemed strange, because who had permission to take from the palace gardens? Only very official residents and the gardeners, maybe. Which narrowed it all down quite a lot.

When the third bunch of flowers arrived, covered in a gentle dusting of dirt and with a short, scribbled note wishing him a good day, Robin realised his mistake from before. He’d recognise that handwriting anywhere. Chrom had been sending him flowers. Flowers bought from town for a large amount of money, flowers taken from the garden, of course it was Chrom. But why?

Robin’s mind immediately jumped to a plethora of terrible things that the gift could be alluding to. Chrom would only ever give him flowers if he were following a person’s advice, which meant he was unsure of himself, and as a rule Chrom tended to be pretty sure of himself, most of the time. He didn’t spend much time fretting over their romantic life.

What if something bad had happened, and Chrom was trying to soften him up to tell him about it. Were his family doing okay? Had something political gone wrong? Was Chrom going to go away somewhere and not come back for ages? What if it was somewhere that Robin couldn’t follow him to?

Maybe Chrom was being forced to marry a woman, for political reasons. Maybe people had been starting rumours about the pair of them and they’d spread and he needed to break the news gently. Maybe he was trying to make their relationship more covert and less based on physical affection.

Maybe Robin was being a complete idiot and overthinking the whole thing. His thoughts had the tendency to spiral, at times, and he knew that logically a lot of these fears were completely unfounded. He had no reason to think that Chrom was being forced into anything, especially as Chrom tended to talk to him when political problems cropped up. Chrom would never keep something so important from him.

But if that was the case, why was Chrom so clearly nervous about something now? Chrom didn’t even get nervous about really big, important things. He was, for the most part, completely unflappable in a way that Robin always envied. He never lost his cool when there was something important that affected lots of people to do. He was an amazing leader like that.

Though maybe...maybe it wasn’t big, at least not in a way that affected a lot of the people he ruled over. Because Chrom did tend to get nervous about the little things. He’d been nervous about confessing his attraction to Robin, nervous about going out somewhere together for the first time. When it came to personal relationships, Chrom actually tended to be pretty useless.

When the fourth lot of flowers showed up, it was clear that Chrom was getting a little more comfortable with whatever he was nervous about, or at least with doing it on his own terms. This time, the flowers he bought were in a pot, and didn’t die, providing Robin actually remembered to water it (they looked a bit sad for a couple of days before he realised that he hadn’t watered them for a while).

Those ones were nice, and were swiftly followed up by a gift Robin actually liked; some potted herbs he could grow and use himself. They made his room smell nice, they looked good, and they didn’t die. Finally, a practical gift that was actually quite Chrom-like.

From the moment Robin had worked out who was giving the flower gifts, he made sure not to mention them to Chrom. He didn’t want to embarrass the man more than he was probably already embarrassed, after all. Chrom was pretty hopeless and awkward with giving gifts. But he did make a point of making sure the plants were visible when Chrom came to his room.

It was one of those times that Chrom finally, finally seemed to work up the courage to say whatever was really on his mind. Because there was no way Chrom had spontaneously decided to start giving him flowers. “Robin,” he asked one evening. Both of them were sat on the sofa together, just close enough to touch. Chrom had been lightly snoozing while Robin read a book; it was all normal, and routine, with nothing strange until this moment. “Are we, no, that’s not the right way to say it. Sorry. We’re, I mean, us - as a couple, that is - we’re long term, right?”

Robin looked up, placing the bookmark in the page before putting the book to one side. “Of course,” he said. “Did, uh, did you have something on your mind? You don’t need to be worried, and if you are you know you can just talk to me. We’re definitely long term.”

“I talked to Lissa,” he said, “because I wanted to ask you something. And she said that you’d say no unless I made a big deal out of it, courted you properly, and did some big reveal that meant a bunch of really sweet things.”

“So you bought me flowers,” Robin said with a chuckle, and Chrom laughed. There was a hint of nervousness in his laughter.

“It wasn’t really me, was it?” he said, laughing a little more genuinely. “You didn’t even think it was me. So I, uh, decided to tone it down a bit. This is really important to me, don’t think it isn’t, but I didn’t think big flashy things were what you’d enjoy. And I know I’d hate it, and I basically thought ‘if Robin doesn’t like it when I do it my way then what’s the point’?”

“You’d be right,” he said with a fond smile. Working out what Chrom was getting at was difficult, but he could mostly understand what he meant. And he agreed. “Whatever you want to talk about, just do it how you want.”

“Can we, uh, stand up for a moment?” he asked. Chrom had started to fidget.

Robin laughed lightly. He was starting to catch on as to what this was. Chrom was adorable when he looked so flustered, but he stood up, taking Chrom’s hands as he did. “Now what?” he asked with a smile.

Chrom got down on one knee, and Robin practically felt his face light up. He had sort of guessed, from the context, but this was a whole other thing. His fears had been so off the mark. They’d been the complete opposite to the truth, even. “Robin, I did have this huge speech prepared, but I’m not the best with words, that’s your job. But I love you deeply, and it would be my honour if you were to become my husband.”

“I think that was a perfect speech,” he said, delighting in the huge smile on Chrom’s face. “Of course I’ll marry you, Chrom. You don’t need to give me any flowers to convince me how amazing you are.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this incredibly indulgent fluff! I'd really appreciate it if you could leave a comment if you have anything to say, it's great to see the reactions of others and also really motivating :)


End file.
